ACTORS CONTRACT ACTORS

							ACTORS CONTRACT


Name of actor                                      Name of production company
C/o Agent (if there is one)                              Company address
Actor or Agent‟s Address


Date _______________________


Dear Name of actor


This letter confirms agreement that you will take the part of ________________ in the film
___________________ ( the “Film”) This is the working title and the final name of the film may
change. As you know, this is a low budget production and we are keen to ensure that
everyone understands the basis upon which the Film is being made. If there is anything about
this letter that you do not understand or you wish us to clarify, please do not hesitate to contact
us.

1)You agree to be available to work during the filming period (“the Shoot”)

from _________ to ____________          (or you can name the exact dates).


2) You agree that the filming will take place in the following locations
_______________________________________________________________________.

3) You agree to give over any rights you may have in the finished film to name of production
company or producer. This will allow us to distribute the film in any and every way we can.

4) We will pay a fee of £36.60 a day for your performance in this Film. The fee is payable
within 28 days after the performance was given.

5) We will aim to ensure that working days are not longer than 10 hours.

6) We will do our best to ensure your health, safety and welfare during the Shoot.

7) We will have public liability insurance to cover you during the Shoot.

8) We will provide you with food and refreshments throughout the Shoot. We will liase with
you over your travel arrangements to and from the Shoot and either provide transport or pay
travel expenses which we need to agree in advance.

9) We will be provide you with a VHS of the finished Film within 3 months of the completion of
all post production.




signed by the actor                                         signed on behalf of the company



date                                                        date
SHOOTING PEOPLE GOOD ENOUGH CONTRACTS

These contracts are designed to be „good enough‟ for low budget filmmaking. If you have a
commission from a TV station or are making a fully funded feature film, you should seek to
use the PACT contracts (Producers Association for Cinema and Television – www.pact.co.uk)
which are based on full Equity fees and contain a great deal more details about exclusivity,
overtime and repeat fees and copyright clearances.

These contracts are designed to be as clear as possible – no fancy legal language just plain
English. They have been drawn up in consultation with a professional media lawyer, Mark
Lloyd.

The contract should be printed out on company letterhead.

2 copies signed by the producer should be sent out – one for the actor to keep and one for
them to sign and return.

WHAT ARE THESE CONTRACTS FOR?

A contract is there to protect - to protect the producer and to protect the actor.

A contract makes sure there is as much clarity as possible between both partners so both
know what to expect from the other.

 You should always use a contract with your actors no matter how informal the shoot. It will
save you from the consequences of any misunderstandings or disagreements further down
the line.

The Shooting People Actors Contract contains things that the actor promises to do – such as
turn up. These are covered in the first 3 clauses which start „you agree‟

And things the producer promises to do – such as provide insurance. These are covered in
the last 6 clauses which start „we will‟.

AT THE VERY LEAST

Shooting People members expect that at bare minimum, a producer will pay for travel and
food expenses, provide a copy of the finished film and provide Public Liability Insurance to
cover the crew and cast for any accidents during the production.

We strongly urge you to retain these elements to the contract, even if you amend or remove
other clauses.

RIGHTS AND PAYMENT

Creative people such as directors, writers, composers and actors automatically own the rights
to their own creative contribution to a film. In order to sell or show a film the producer needs
to control all the rights to the film.

On a fully funded production, the producer pays the actor money in exchange for which the
actor assigns all (or some) of the rights in their work to the producer.

On low budget films the producer is often paying the actor a minimum fee or even no fee at
all. Yet they must still obtain the rights they need to distribute the film even if they simply wish
to show it online for free.

Ideally actors will agree to assign all rights in a short film or low budget feature when they sign
the contract. Largely speaking these films do not make much, if any, return on their original
budgets and those involved are doing so in order to progress their careers so asking for all
rights to be assigned is a reasonable request. However you may be forced to be specific
about the distribution rights you want to clear with the contract – they are primarily CINEMA,
TV, FILM FESTIVALS, INTERNET, VIDEO AND DVD.

The draft contract is filled in with the Equity Film School rate - £36 a day - this does not
legitimise your shoot in the eyes of Equity, these rates are intended only for film school
productions, separate rates apply to low budget productions. See the „Paying Actors‟ FAQ for
more detail on actors rates. If your film is very low budget and your actors have agreed to
waive their fee, simply remove this clause.

DEFERED PAYMENT CONTRACTS

Both producers and actors are aware that every low budget feature is a potential Blair Witch
even though the odds are very low indeed. It may be that you have an actor who you
consider to be essential to the production whose agent is not prepared to sign away all rights
for no fee or for only the Equity film school fee. In this case you may want to consider an
additional deferred payment contract which promises to pay the actor more money if and
when the film is a commercial success. [see Deferred Payment Contract]